Bis Aufs Messer weekly News 02 June 2022
Hi. Welcome to another newsletter for June. A couple cool things arrived like the BLOD - Pilgrimssånger LP via Discreet along with some restocks, the 番長 TASTE - 番長 Taste 7“ , new stuff from MORC like the LUSTER LP, DAITRO - Laisser Vivre Les Squelettes LP, the last HEIMAT LP (feat. Peeps of Cheveu, The Dreams), ENNIO MORRICONE - Sans Mobile Apparent OST LP, FERKAT AL ARD - Oghneya LP, new GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS - Konsumrausch LP, HENNING CHRISTIANSEN - OP.163 Penthesilea DLP, new amazing releases from mamma Mysteriska jukebox like the THOMAS BUSH - Preludes LP and the SOFT ESTATE - The Painted Ship LP, XIU XIU - Forget LP restock, KOMARE - Grace To The Breathe That Void TAPE, new PIGEON - Permanent Quest / Riged 7“, DIE VERLIERER - s/t LP and more …
Til then thank you for all your orders & support.
Robert & Norman
mailorder@bisaufmesser.com
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
7“
BODUF SONGS / JESSICA BAILIFF - lakeside blues 7“ (morc — Edition of 200* Before embarking on a European tour, Boduf Songs and Jessica Bailiff re-worked one of their older songs in totally different versions. Boduf Songs presents a stripped own but electric and heavy version of decapitation blues, originally a vibrating and pulsating track. Jessica Bailiff brings a new take on Lakeside Blues, heavily relying on keyboards.) 8.00
PIGEON - Permanent Quest / Riged 7“ (Mangel - Two new post-punk banger songs by Berlin's Pigeon now available on 7“.) 8.00
番長 TASTE - 番長 Taste 7“ (discreet - There’s pomade in the petals and chewy in the pedals as this giddy n giggly Diddley squad blat out a conbini-run worth of high-collared confectionary rabble and pretty in pink tattle. Either the sakura suck or Dale’s a done duck with these creepers n sleepers to raising glasses after dark and a swoon song in the park. February 2009 Tokyo - Mark Anderson (Greymouth/Mysteries of Love), Anthony Guerra(Love Chants/Mysteries of Love) and mysterious rocker ‘Mariyo’ grease the chains and enter the fray to throw-down and hoon some tunes to the moon. 45 rpm. Edition of 200 copies with postcard sleeves and insert.) 13.00
LP
BINGO TRAPPERS - Giddy Wishes LP (Morc - Bingo Trappers, the prolific Dutch lofi-legends, return with their first album since the sold out elizabethan record. Once again, they prove to be the masters of 60s-influenced psychedelic garagepop, with a touch of dreamy americana blent in. no-one else makes their songs so fluid-sounding an catchy like they do. Giddy Wishes is a treat to hear: like recieving an oldfashioned postcard from a friend you haven't seen in too long.) 20.00
BLOD - Pilgrimssånger LP (discreet - Pilgrimssånger is the first of two new Blod albums deeply inspired by the Swedish Christian parish culture. The songs deals with human connection and solitude in a life built upon faith. The lyrics depicts exposure and anxiety but also joy and belief among free church members, the complexity of the relationships in the community with its leaders and priests and - ultimately - God. The songs are mainly influenced by Swedish folk music, psalms and choral music. While being an heavy album, Gustafs' intention has still been to fill the listener with hope and light rather than the opposite. As usual with Blod, the approach has been to highlight the beautiful things in generally ugly contexts, something that has probably never been as evident as on Pilgrimssånger. ) 25.00
CHOCOLAT - Rencontrer Looloo LP (teenage - It’s been waiting to happen. Beyond the mystical pyramids and the mountains of Mars, Looloo’s silhouette emerges. A demigod born out of intergalactic dust, this exalted creature moves to the music of an epiphany laden with pretzels and Cherry Coke bottles. Its electric guitar-shaped head chants the arrival of a new Golden Age of distortion, an inescapable voyage to the end of the world to reconnect with the beings who brought us intelligence and hard rock. If you could only see it, you would understand... Then one day, a band falls under its spell. Suddenly entranced by Looloo’s incomprehensible Sanskrit babble, the musicians are awakened to a desire for transcendence and communion of the spirits. As if each one of us were a small speck in the constellation created by Looloo’s vintage leatherette one-piece suit. Surely this ecstasy and elation will be short-lived. ) 18.00
DAITRO - Laisser Vivre Les Squelettes LP (echo canyon - Finally reissued on coke bottle green vinyl! Originally released in 2005. Hailing from Lyon, France, Daitro deliver a totally perfect blend of hardcore and emo, proving that there are still some bands that posses the power and spirit of d.i.y. and punk that the original French emo movement held in the 90’s. At the same time, Daitro has no doubt created their own sound, full of new intensity, passion, and atmosphere.) 18.00
EDGAR WAPPENHALTER - Edgar Wappenhalter LP (Morc - Long-awaited return of Steve Marreyt, the grandmaster of psychedelic dronefolk-soundcollages. here he resurfaces with three long and impulsive tracks - mainly based on vocals and samples, but using the same direct and messy approach that made his earlier releases so unique. The entire A-side is taken up by an acapella lamentation for Herman Bisschop, the Dutch artist who passed away in the summer of 2018 and was a personal friend of Marreyt. The B-side thrives on samples, making it a more hectic listen, yet clear and oddly structured’-sounding for a Wappenhalter release. Definitely an adventurous but rewarding listen.) 18.00
ENNIO MORRICONE - Sans Mobile Apparent OST LP (Ennio Morricone's superb 1971 soundtrack for French film Sans Mobile Apparent widely available for the first time on vinyl. One of Morricone's little known soundtracks from his coolest period. Featuring an exclusive interview by Jeremy Allen with the Film director Philippe Labro reminiscing about the making of the film and his collaboration with Morricone. Audio remastered from the original tapes and lacquer cut by Frederic Alstadt (Mont Analogue) and gatefold sleeve designed by Eric Adrian Lee) 40.00
FERKAT AL ARD - Oghneya LP (habibi - An absolutely legendary album from Lebanon by Issam Hajali’s group Ferkat Al Ard, “Oghneya” stands out as one of the great musical gems of the Arab world. A groundbreaking release from 1978 that represents the meeting point of Arab, jazz, folk and Brazilian styles with the talent of Ziad Rahbani, who did the albums arrangements. Filled with a variety of sounds and genres, from Baroque Pop to Psych-Folk to flashes of Bossa Nova, Tropicalia and MPB, “Oghneya” is like if Arthur Verocai took a trip to Beirut in the 70’s to record an album. Sadly there are two tracks from the original release of “Oghneya” that did not make it onto the reissue. “Ghfyara Ghaza” was replaced by the song “Juma’a 6 Hziran.” while “Huloul” was taken off without a replacement. This happened as a precondition from the band for this reissue to happen. We would have loved to include all tracks, but the decision ranged between having either a reissue like the one we put out or no reissue at all. Thus, an easy choice for us.) 25.00
GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS - Konsumrausch LP (Noisy trio ‘Girls In Synthesis’ are wonderfully described as looking ‘more like a terror cell than a rock group’. Lyrically they are dealing with working class experience of fragile mental health, social immobility, a sense of powerlessness, precarity, anxiety and the corrosive effects of a hostile society. Straight down the barrel vocal delivery from John Linger as he barks out ‘I’ve seen a glimpse of the future!’ London-based trio ‘Girls In Synthesis’ are a band who defy categorization. Since their formation, the band’s output has taken in anarcho-punk, noise-rock, post-punk and electronic influences, without lingering on any of those genres. The definitive GIS sound is more than the sum of these parts.) 23.00
HEIMAT - Zwei LP (teenage - What is time in the face of a great album? Those albums that do not age, which never cease to surprise with their innovative freshness, listening after listening, ignoring the years passing by. Heimat's debut album is one of those, which you keep on the shelf or the turntable, like a reassuring fetish object. It is quite legitimate that these two, Armelle and Olivier, proud genius offsprings of Cheveu and the mythical The Dreams, have groped their way forward, without any sense of urgency but relying on their solid live experience, indulging in meticulous experimental research in order to sculpt the worthy successor of their « Heimat »-manifesto. If "Zwei" is inspired by marginal lands that were untouched before them, the production and extensive mastering allow the duo's experiments to cross new borders. Armelle's voice moves away from Germanic influences, digging deeper and further south. These forays make their incongruous music furthermore uncategorizable : more direct and sharp, it nevertheless loses its audience in a limbo of burnt pop, broken but reassuring at the same time.) 18.00
HENNING CHRISTIANSEN - OP.163 Penthesilea DLP (Beautiful, haunting and sombre, this 2LP presents the entire recording from Henning Christiansen’s Heinrich von Kleist tribute at Rene Block’s Rosenfest festival, Berlin, 1984. THE REALITY IS A GHOST IN MY MIND (LP1) is a work that unfolds patiently with a mix of field recordings; wind, bird song and the sound of snow being crushed underfoot all unite in a foreboding atmosphere. IN PENTHESILEAS HÖHLE (LP2) features electronic treatments to the original field recordings found on THE REALITY IS A GHOST IN MY MIND, a representation of psychological reorientation perhaps? A deep ground tone (or ROOT as Henning calls it) leads the listener through a variety of realistic and unrealistic environments. As Henning says in his essay reprinted on the back sleeve: “Then comes a section where the field recordings of the sea, the storm, birds, cars and other things, are built together so that the realism of these sounds become unreal. For example the cars drive into the sea and the birds are singing within the storm. When you hear footsteps in the show, it’s Kleist sneaking past Deutsche Schauspielhaus. When you hear a deep, human sleeping noise, it’s Achilles sleeping. When you hear hammering it’s the weapon smith working. When you hear a stone being thrown it means the unanswered question: “Who threw the first stone?”) 42.00
KARINA ESP - A still from the film LP (Morc - A still from the film is a sort of sister release of 2012’s ‘detachment’. So you can expect warm and dark drones, mostly guitarbased. But this album is at the same time more abstract, and more accessible. The a-side is one sidelong track. Whereas many artists start out with a melody that degenerates into chaos, Karina ESP builds a subtle melody out of what starts as a vague mix of hiss, crackles and guitarsounds. the b-side of the record is more straightforward, with a prominent role for Gowers’ vocals, which makes the album stand out far from his contemporaries.) 18.00
LUSTER - Luster LP (Morc - LP in an edition of 150 copies with screenrprinted and letter pressed sleeves - ten years in the making, finally the debut album of this belgian sextet with members of Mote, Joe Speedboat and Annelies Monseré arrives. Cello, flute, harmonium and violin blend in with the traditional guitar-bass-drums trio – making them land on a unique spot at the crossroad where ancestral doom folk, heady dronerock and spacious pop seamlessly meet. Often repetive, always mesmerizing and evocative. Kind of the missing link between Mazzy Star, Pentangle, Broadcast and Enhet for Fri Musik.) 21.00
LUSTRE - A Glimpse of Glory LP (Nordvis - Re-release of Swedish Lustre’s second album ”A Glimpse of Glory”. Long-since sold out and highly sought after - this classic is being treated to a proper packaging. The new cover artwork comes courtesy of Joan Llopis Doménech, the Valencian illustrator who made the amazing piece that adorns the “Night Spirit” re-issue from 2021. Lustre is one of Nordvis’ oldest and still-running collaborations. We discovered this band with “Night Spirit”, and so had high expectations when “A Glimpse of Glory” came out in 2010. For anyone who appreciated the debut, this was a treat. Filled to the brim with the same atmosphere-driven lo-fi black metal as the first: the sound which has now become characteristic for Lustre. Majestic soundscapes built on hypnosis-inducing repetition, tastefully curated with various theatrical elements in the form of nature samples.) 28.00
MOTORSAV – Respiratordrømme LP (kink - After releasing a 7" and two 12" MOTORSAV from Kopenhagen/Denmark return with their third 12" "Respiratordromme" and 8 new tracks full of the blurred sounds of synth-garage, death rock and fist-pumping UK punk. Think of TRISTESS meets MASSHYSTERI and THE VICIOUS mixing some goth and hardcore influences into the sound! Those 8 dark, melodic tracks have surprising twists and turns, with super-tight performance and dreaminess in the production quality. Cold and melodic synth-driven K-Town punk! The 12" comes housed in a nice 350g cover, including a lyric-sheet and A2-poster!) 15.00
THE PRISONERS - The Last Fourfathers LP (Ace records - THE LAST FOURFATHERS is unarguably the best set of British rock'n'roll (not to mention garage punk, psych, mod soul and general Hammond-fuelled frenzy) of the past 20 years. For once, objectivity don't come into it. What would you match it against, anyhow? The Stone Roses' debut? Don't make me laff! Oasis's first album? Oh, pleeze! As you're no doubt aware, there are a multitude of records which are costly to track down, a significant percentage of which, musically speakin', simply ain't worth the vinyl they're cut on. However, the Kentish lads' third magnum opus, originally released to little or no mainstream acclaim by the band's Own Up label during 1985, is a different kettle of frogspawn entirely. That's why you can currently expect to pay around £100 for a pristine vinyl example, or even part with up to ¬£50 for a copy of the band's own CD reissue from the early 90s.) 28.00
SOFT ESTATE - The Painted Ship LP (mamma Mysteriska jukebox - "Soft Estate are a band I don’t know. Their songs are here and gone, gauzy, blank and romantic. This record is a brief heady waltz through a hall of mirrors. Drum machines tick past, oil and water synths swirl by and and a sleepy solemn voice sings. The reflections of 40 years of art-school electronics are pulled and twisted into new shapes. I can hear Broadcast, AC Marias, Rexy, Lydia Tomkiw, Solid Space. And then before I know it I’m out the other side blinking in the daylight." ) 24.00
TECHNO THRILLER - Decameron LP (teenage - Long-time friends, and trustful party partners , the Brussels duo, Techno Thriller, joins the Teenage Menopause Records family with a batch of slow and cranky misshapes. During the past decade, we've linked them with the filthy EBM and chopped Indus-Techno they’re performing during massive lives, stabbing the dark rooms audiences. Two albums released on both l’Entorse and the Brussels’ pioneer Unknown Precept, integrating the C12 agency, they scoured Europe, releasing some smoky tracks, for those who love cinderblocks, leather and sweat. On the strength of this impeccable resume, they’re offering, now for Teenage Menopause, a free-reading of the Decameron: a 10 texts chronicle, by the florentine Boccace, describing the spread of the Great Plague of 1352 in his city. While exploring the limits of new sounds, expanding electronic music, Techno Thriller looks back into their medieval influences, sharpening the blades on the literature of British authors, cutting guts on dark folk moods. The rhythms are slow, the gears are dedicated to building a dark and gloomy feeling, helped by featurings like Naomie Klaus or violinist Tamara Goukassova.) 18.00
THOMAS BUSH - Preludes LP (mammas msyterika - "I saw Thomas Bush play in a field in France a couple of years ago. Remembering it now, it seems to me he was wearing a woolly jumper despite the summer heat. He laid all of his instruments out on the grass, I think there was a recorder, a guitar maybe and various boxes and pedals. The details of my memory are hazy but I can bring the feeling of the music to mind. Some of what he did seemed scrappy or confusing at first. But when everything came together the effect was transporting. There was a deep feeling of English-eccentric melancholy mixed with a commitment to the distressed, ragged edges of sound. Most of all there was a keen, if slightly obscured, sense of melody. Like lots of my favourite music, Eno/Fripp/Can/Cos/SFT this was pop wearing the clothes of experimentalism, or maybe the other way around. His new record brings that afternoon back. Here again are songs like scraps of remembered conversation and hooks of melody that break apart and fall together as the the sun dips behind the hills." Jack Rollo, Time is away) 24.00
DIE VERLIERER - s/t LP (mangel - New Postpunk band from Berlin with peeps of Chuckamuck & Die Maske. Bass-driven, raw and NDW influenced Postpunk that transfer you straight in the 1980s in Berlin.) 17.00
XIU XIU - Forget LP (teenage - 'FORGET' was recorded during a period of epic productivity for Xiu Xiu. While writing 'FORGET', they released the lauded 'Plays the Music of Twin Peaks', collaborated with Mitski on a song for an upcoming John Cameron Mitchell film, composed music for art installations by Danh Vo, recorded an album with Merzbow and scored an experimental reworking of the Mozart opera, 'The Magic Flute'. All of this frantic, external activity lead to a softly damaged dreaminess and broadened intent that has not been heard before in other Xiu Xiu works. The album was produced by John Congleton (Blondie, Sigur Ros), Greg Saunier of Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu's own Angela Seo. It features guest appearances by fabled minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine, L.A. Banjee Ball superstar commentator Enyce Smith, Swans guitar virtuoso Kristof Hahn and legendary drag artist and personal hero of Xiu Xiu, Vaginal Davis.) 20.00
TAPES
KOMARE - Grace To The Breathe That Void TAPE (Komare return with a 4 part document recorded during the apocalypse. Pete & Dominic from Mosquitoes fame. Claustrophobic electronics & tape manipulations. Limited to 100 copies.) 11.00
CD
DELPHINE DORA - Hymnes Apophatiques CD (Morc - During the summer of 2021, Delphine was invited for a residency at the church of St Saphorin (Switzerland), on the occasion of the Jolie Vue Festival. Having the opportunity to fully explore the organ the days before the actual festival, Delphine improvised a long, long series of tracks, of which you’ll find a small selection on ‘hymnes apophatiques’. She’s definitely full of respect for the organ, at some moments diving deep in the sound traditionally associated with this rich instrument – the one you’ll recognize from the hours spent in church as a kid. However, at many moments throughout the album the sound is more playful than we’re used to. It’s a fearless approach. The fact that she dares to intervene with her voice quite often really makes her recordings stand out from those of many other artists who have been experimenting with a church organ lately: she definitely has a high regards for the tradition of the organ, but refuses to bow. She’s in charge, not the instrument itself. This way, Delphine manages to bend the sound completely her way. It’s an enthralling listen, that not only takes you along all the possibilities of the instrument, but also through Delphine’s entire musical path. And that’s quite a journey.) 12.00
GOTHENBURG SOUND WORKSHOP - Gothenburg Sound Workshop 2xCD (discreet - A new 50-minute opus of desolate beauty from Gothenburg Sound Workshop. Imagine a handcuffed Terry Riley driving a ice cream truck down in the Göta Älv. The second disc compiles both Förlag För Fri Musik albums (released in small vinyl editions in 2020 and 2021 respectively). Together the three albums creates a massive trilogy of stripped down, melancholic and introspective synth minimalism. Six-panel digipack.) 20.00
MAGAZINES / BOOKS
WIRE - #461 I July 2022 MAG (Clive Bell talks to members of the game-changing British free music unit AMM and Seymour Wright compiles a user's guide to some recent highlights from the group's catalogue. Plus: violinist and composer Angharard Davies, composer and interdisciplinary artist Hannah Catherine Jones, post-industrial psychonauts UnicaZürn, and much more) 8.00
